Tag: Films

So for the first set of reviews for the now WRITTEN Double Feature, we have two VERY different movies from two very different mediums of released. We have the family friendly conclusion to the How to Train Your Dragon Trilogy and lauded television series. Then we have a fascinating little horror movie disguised as a Rom Com in Down: Into the Dark which is brought to us from Hulu. So, all things considered, I am about to dish out some serious whip last when it comes to reviews for these two movies. Continue reading “Double Feature: How to Train Your Dragon 3 and Down: Into the Dark”→

Some of you may be aware, I am a big fan of the movie series Tremors. What started out as a horror comedy monster movie featuring Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward as made a nice little niche for itself with some of the most solid sequels and franchises that I have ever seen. Thanks to a small, but fervent fanbase and actors from the original movie willing to champion the cause, Tremors has become a surprising brand with five movies and a TV Series under its belt. Just last month, the franchise released its newest movie, Tremors 5: Bloodlines and since I am in the movie criticism business, it is a prime target for my analytical destruction and destruction it shall be! I am not going to sit here and bash the fifth installment of this movie, it actually isn’t that bad. This is especially true when you consider the fact that by the fifth installment of a franchise, the movies tend to suck and suck hard. But all things considered, this movie is certainly one of the weak points within the franchise. Continue reading “Tanner Reviews Tremors 5: Bloodlines”→

We open the vault once again for another interesting little movie that was never meant to be anything big… And then everyone in 2004 collectively lost their fucking shit. One day the world was normal and the next day you couldn’t walk five steps without seeing a “Vote for Pedro” shirt or hear someone say “GOSH” in that dead pan expression that only Jon Heder could produce. Also, who could forget the bizarre opening title sequence that somehow worked so well to introduce the film as someone kept placing random items in the frame? Needless to say, the movie is certainly memorable. But the question still remains, does the film still hold up after being out there for almost a decade?

Napoleon Dynamite is the story of a nerdy 16-year-old kid from Idaho by the same name (Jon Heder). He lives a boring and dry life which features going to school, getting bullied, and drawing random pictures in his notebook. Over a series of random events, Napoleon becomes friends with a new student named Pedro (Efren Ramirez) and a girl named Deb (Tina Majorino).

I’ve been critical of horror movies in the past and their evolution over the years. It is weird, out of all the movie genres it is horror that has such rapid and noticeable swings in the likes and dislikes of the public. In the 80s we saw the rise of the slasher flick, Friday the 13th, Halloween, and the like. In the 90s there was a lot more of a push for surreal thrillers like Silence of the Lambs and Event Horizon. In the 2000s we saw the rise of gore porn with film franchises like Hostel, Saw, and Final Destination leading the charge. Now that we are halfway through the 2010’s I can see the trends of horror are changing again as we find ourselves in more of the slow building dread and haunted house horror stories which we can most likely thank Paranormal Activity, The Conjuring, and Insidious for. Now I’m not saying that these horror tropes are mutually exclusive to their given decades, I’m only saying that they do follow trends that the majority of these movies seem to follow. Hell if they followed exclusive trends such classics as The Exorcist, Poltergeist, Drag Me to Hell, and The Thing would not be in existence.

But as of right now we find ourselves in the 2010s and dreadful slow building horror with stylistic and sharp color tones seems to be all the rage. Thus we find ourselves with today’s topic Oculus. Oculus is a movie brought to us by Blumhouse Productions as well as the infamous WWE Studios, directed by newcomer Mike Flanagan, and stars one of everyone’s favorite companions to The Doctor Karen Gillian and relative newcomer Brenton Thwaites. All things considered this movie should not have been much of a blip on the 2014 movie radar but surprisingly enough gained quite a praise from fans and critics alike. So today we are going to look at it and judge whether or not this movie truly is as good as everyone says it is. Continue reading “Tanner Reviews Oculus”→

Now we come to one of my favorite times of the year! It is time to countdown the best films of 2014! I kind of felt a little like a slouch this year for not being able to see any of the big films for 2014 one of which is Interstellar that still kills me I didn’t get to watch. But after looking at the Oscar Season and lack luster feel of 2014, I feel like I didn’t really miss much so if there is some extra special omissions this year, I apologize. 2015 you will find me at the movies a lot more frequently. But for now we will look at the Best Films that I reviewed on Tanner Reviews.

Keep in mind if the intro did not give it away, these are films that I have personally reviewed for 2014. There may have been a film that was the Citizen Kane or Plan 9 from Outer Space of our generation this year, but if I didn’t see it and review it then sadly it cannot make the list. With that said, let’s have a look at the Top 5 and an honorable mention. Continue reading “The Best Films of 2014”→